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EDITORIAL: The 12 lies of Obamacare

Here’s a belated — and not very uplifting — Yuletide tale of sorts from the White House.

We might call it: The 12 lies of Obamacare.

But, in the spirit of the season, let’s be more charitable.

We’ll use the phrase, as future British Prime Minister Winston Churchill did almost a century ago — terminological inexactitudes.

Or, for short, TIs.

So, in his first TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, if you like your health care insurance, you can keep it. Period. We know how that one turned out.

In his second TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, I didn’t really mean that. And, he elaborated through spokesmen: Look, you dumb bunnies, I didn’t quite mean that you could keep it if you liked it, but rather that you could if we’d liked it. Tough luck if you can’t read between the lines.

In his third TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, we’re just talking about 5 percent of the people; well, make it 4 percent or so. Sure, the spokesfolks clarified, that’s 12 or 13 million people — or maybe just 8 million, or whatever — but it’s not our fault that you can’t do the math.

On his fourth TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, we’re just pulling the plug on substandard plans, so I’m really doing you a favor. Well, his aides revised and extended, what we meant to say was we had to cancel your policy so we can make you pay for coverage you don’t want or need.

In his fifth TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, if you like your doctor, you can keep him or her. Fact check: Plans sold under Obamacare often limit choices of positions in hospitals.

In his sixth TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, you’ll get better care at lower cost.

Here’s what he didn’t say: Some people who used to get nothing will get something for relatively little; others will get something for less than they used to pay. Everyone else will pay more for less — that is, if they can find a doctor after coverage is extended to millions more people and physicians’ reimbursements are reduced — again. And — psst — your taxes are going up.

In his seventh TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, try healthcare.gov; you’ll like it. … Well, we mean it this time. … All right, all right; we really mean it this time. Oops. what we really mean is that you will try it, and you will like it.

In his eighth TI about Obamacare, the president said to us, oh well, I guess we really didn’t tell you it’s actually spinach and Brussels sprouts. But trust us; they’re good for you.

We could go on to describe 12 of the president’s TIs about Obamacare, but we’re not sure there’s room here.

Our point: It’s almost as though the president and his minions think each incremental absurdity they utter makes their previous non sequitur more tenable.

They also seem to be telling us: Since we really do know better than you what’s good for you, there’s no need for us to level with you.

But a lot of the rest of us have known since Richard Nixon and Watergate that the cover-up is always worse than the crime — at least in terms of credibility.

In the meantime, we suppose, you might as well stay tuned for more terminological inexactitudes from the administration about Obamacare.

Two more suggestions: Watch out — if you can log on — for wooden nickels on healthcare.gov, and don’t accept any prescriptions for partridges or pear trees.